Ochieng’ K’Olewe, the L. Stanley Bowlsbey Endowed Chair

Ochieng’ K’Olewe is the L. Stanley Bowlsbey Endowed Chair at McDaniel College. As a professor of Education, he currently advises undergraduate secondary education minors in addition to teaching in both the undergraduate department and graduate program.

Dr. K’Olewe taught social studies in public schools in Illinois, Maryland, and West Virginia before coming to McDaniel in 1997. At McDaniel, he has served as coordinator for elementary and secondary certification for the M.S. in Teaching program, formerly Better Educators for Teachers of Tomorrow (BEST), and has supervised teaching candidate interns. 

Growing up in Kenya, Dr. K’Olewe took an alternative path to higher education. He traveled to the United States to study at Iowa State University, where he earned undergraduate degrees in Economics and Business Administration. He then went on to obtain a master’s degree in Secondary Education-Social Studies from Northern Illinois University and a Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from West Virginia University. 

His experiences have shaped his passion for giving back to his hometown village of Kopudo in Kisumu County, Kenya. During the college’s 2011 January Term, he traveled to Kenya with a group of McDaniel students to renovate a primary school building. In 2016, he helped establish an all-girls high school and a scholarship for its students. He also created a scholarship to support high-need students in the village.

His research and scholarship, primarily focused on education in Kenya, has been published in multiple journals. He has also presented at national and international conferences.